Its detailing and stonework emphasize the craftsmanship Samuel P. Atkinson wished to portray to complement his engraving business. Thanks to extensive restoration work undertaken by current owner Jeff Mellander, this structure will continue to represent a rare piece of architecture and style no longer found in Downtown Champaign. Although the Atkinson Monument Company no longer exists, many can still remember the days when window shopping revealed the carvings and engravings of handcrafted headstones in the store window. It is important to note that although 106 and 108 South Neil Street are currently fashioned in Richardsonian Romanesque, only 106 South Neil carries the original façade. 108 South Neil was previously the Price Paint Store. Mr. Mellander took great steps to match the detailing of the 106 South Neil when reconstructing Price Paint to match. This leaves us with a single structure, sharing a common interior space.

A view of Neil Street looking north from Clark Street
(Atkinson Monument Co is on the left behind the power pole).

Neil Street looking North from Clark Street circa late 1930s.
Atkinson Monument Company is on the lower left.

Lobby of the Atkinson Monument Company. S.P. Atkinson on the left.
Photo Courtesy of Jeff Mellander

In 1868 a young 24 year old Civil War veteran names Samuel Peabody Atkinson, ventured from his home in Pataskala Ohio to the small growing community of Champaign Illinois. It was here that he would teach and farm until 1880 when he joined J.W. Booker to begin a business know as Champaign Marble and Granite Company. (News-Gazette, 12/26/1980) The company was originally located at the intersections of Hickory, Neil Main and Church Streets in Downtown Champaign.

The Champaign Marble and Granite Company owned by J.W.
Booker and S.P. Atkinson at the intersection of Hickory
and Neil Street (razed for Flat Iron Building)
Photo Courtesy of the Champaign County Archives

This location eventually became to cramped for the growing business and it became necessary to look for new accommodations. Samuel decided on to relocate to a building near the corner of Neil and Chester Streets as a temporary location for his business. However, Atkinson undertook a project on the request of E.C. Flanigan. Flanigan had asked Samuel to construct a new building on the location of his former building. This new structure would forever be known to patrons of the downtown as “The Flat-Iron building”. This building would be built for the primary purpose of housing the growing Champaign Daily Gazette, today known as the News-Gazette.

The Flat Iron Building (or Gazette) building was constructed
on the former Champaign Marble and Granite Company site at 310 North Neil
in 1901 by S.P. Atkinson.Photo Courtesy of the Champaign County Archives

You find remarkable similarities in this structure and the structure Atkinson would soon build to house his own business. The Atkinson Monument Company would eventually build their new structure at 106 South Neil.

Photo Courtesy of Jeff Mellander

Photo Courtesy of Jeff Mellander

Lobby of the Atkinson Monument Company.Photo Courtesy of Jeff Mellander

106 South Neil StreetPhoto Courtesy of Jeff Mellander

106 South Neil Street storefront. Note marble column on this building
matches the marble columns on the Flat Iron Building and Downtown
Wishing Well at Neil and Main Street (One Main Plaza)Photo Courtesy of Jeff Mellander

Work orders from Atkinson Monument CompanyPhoto Courtesy of Jeff Mellander

Work orders from Atkinson Monument CompanyPhoto Courtesy of Jeff Mellander

The business would operate under Samuel P. Atkinson until his death on April 1, 1937. Following his death the company was managed by:

Emma Schultz Atkinson (wife) 1937-1948

Joseph E. Atkinson (son) 1948- 1966.

Mary L VanScheack 1966 - 1981.

Brenda Hopper 1981 - 1988.

The current owner is Jeff Mellander who purchased the business in 1988 as part of a bankruptcy settlement and attempted to keep the business alive. However by 1989 the states second oldest monument company would no longer exist. (Courier, 1969)

October 1959 Business Map of Downtown Champaign
Courtesy of T.J. Blakeman

By 1989 the S.P. Atkinson Monument Company no longer existed and by 1996 the owner Jeff Mellander began renovations of the building along with it's southern neighbor at 108 South Neil (Price Paint Store). Mr. Mellander would completely restore the building and replicate the stone facade of 106 South Neil at 108. He would then move the headquarters of his business Precision Graphics to the building.

The western façade of the building fronting onto Neil Street serves
as the primary façade and main entrance to the building. It is this façade that contains the most
extensive stonework and detailing.
Starting on the ground level we are immediately drawn to the green
marble column on the northwest corner.
This non-fluted, composite column was carved and polished by the
Atkinson Monument Company. Identical
columns were found on S.P. Atkinson’s other building in Downtown, the flat-iron
located at the corner of Main, Hickory and Neil Street. This column occupies the chamfered corner
which houses the main entrance. The
store windows are oversized plate-glass windows broken by 3 Doric non-fluted
columns. 106 South Neil includes Frank
Lloyd Wright luxfer, multi-light transoms.
108 South Neil contains a replica of that pattern. The windows are capped with black cladding to
resemble typical storefronts from it original period. Between the two buildings lies a secondary
entrance within another recessed cutaway.
Working upward we notice that the structure is divided up into eight
piers. Five associated with 106 South
Neil and 3 associated with 108 South Neil.
These piers travel upward and are broken by two separate capitals. The first capitals are part of a broken belt
course and each capital contains comma shaped carvings. The second grouping of capitals is part of a
Doric style belt course which travels the length of the entire building. The piers are then topped with a stone coping
that runs the entire length of the front façade. The second floor of the western façade
between the cladding and the Doric belt course lies six windows. The center two windows and the two 2nd
floor windows in the PriceBuilding are double hung
2 over 2 windows with 4 lite rounded arch transoms. The 2 remaining windows flanking the arched
windows in 106 South Neil are paired double hung sash windows. All windows are supported by plain rock-faced
lug sills. The rounded windows are
capped with a keystone and voussoir stones.
The paired double-hung windows are capped with rock-faced lintels. The stone work throughout the entire western
façade is limestone rock-faced with margins.
The most notable feature on the western façade is the parapet and upper
detailing. The 2 name block on 106 South
Neil is inscribed “AtkinsonBuilding” with a date
block between the name blocks on the center pier of the building. The date on this block is 1904. The name block on the 108 South Neil is
inscribed “Precision Graphics” The date
block for this building reads 1996 and lies on the center pier of the Price
Paint portion. Each name block has 2
rosettes on the centered on the top and bottom of each stone.

Northern Façade-

The northern façade of the building fronts what used to be Bailey Street and
now is used as a municipal alleyway.
This side of the building is not lacking in distinctive architectural
features. The windows are the dominate
feature of this façade with oversized fenestration windows with same plain
stone lug sill and lintels. It is
revealed that the brickwork on the reminder of the building is common bond
variant with 6 stretcher rows per header row.
Looking along the bottom of the building where the walls intersect the
road pavement we can see evidence that at one time in the buildings history
double rowlock segmental arches were visible perhaps allowing light into the
basement. These window openings are
spaced equally and run the length of the building. Today only the very tops of the former
windows are visible today. Another
feature on the northern façade is the pier effect created by a series of 3
external chimneys and 4 internal chimneys.
The 4 internal chimneys extrude out of the façade on the second story
and give a corbelled effect. A stone coping runs the entire length of the
northern façade and remains at a constant height. The coping is also accentuated by a
crenellated effect which runs the entire length of the wall. The symmetry of the building begins to fail
as you move further east along the alleyway.
Near the northeast corner of the building is a large plate glass window
and door that appears to have taken the place of a loading area. There is now a modern door and handicapped
ramp in this area. The large window is
capped with black cladding to match the western (front) façade. The northeast corner also contains a series
of 3 double row-lock segmental arches.
There are also several star tied-in rods. Overall the northern façade is noticeable
formal. It is assumed that this is because
of the former use of Bailey Street
as a busier loading area.

Eastern (Rear) Façade-

This portion of the building fronting Walnut Street once served as a delivery
and pick-up area for both Price Paint and Atkinson Monument Company. The area currently serves as a secondary
entrance for Precision Graphics. Unique
features of this façade are the two double row-lock window openings which flank
the large area one occupied by a large garage door. Although the current façade is moved back way
from the street the appearance is still given that the façade is in place. Within this opening is housed the antique
lifting mechanism which lifted the heavy granite and stone headstones too and
from the delivery trucks. This system
used a network of rails located throughout the building. There are 5 second story windows on the
Atkinson side and 3 second story windows on the Price side. All windows have the standard plain lug sill
and lintel. The window larger window
located on the far left of the Atkinson building was once a door but later
converted. The two flanking windows on
the upper floor of the price building are double hung 1 over 1 and flank a
large plate-glass window. The first
floor of the PriceBuilding was once used as
a secondary entrance like the AtkinsonBuilding. Photographs revel that at one time both
stores displayed their respective names.
Price used a suspended sign and Atkinson used a painted
advertisement.

Southern Façade –

The southern façade of the building is partially hidden do
to the neighboring one story building.
What can be seen from the street level is a less formal wall that that
of the northern façade. It is reveled
from Sandborn Fire Insurance maps that at the time of construction the lot
immediate to the south of the buildings was vacant. We can tell that this wall at one time was
used as a billboard for travelers down Neil and Walnut Streets. There are a number of worn advertisements
that still remain on the southern façade. The brick on the southwest corner of
the building reveals a quoining effect not seen on the rest of the
building. It would also appear that the PriceBuilding
and the neighboring structure do not share a common wall. There is a stepped parapet with tile coping
which wraps the top of the building and proceeds the entire length of the
building. There are several chimneys on
the southern façade just as there are on the northern façade. We find one interior chimney and one exterior
chimney.

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my new Champaign History Blog! This blog will be devoted to organizing the individual history of built environment throughout Champaign, Illinois. I will be posting photos that I have collected over the past 10 years in a weekly (forgive me if this changes) post dedicated to one building at a time. This blog represents years of scanning and searching for those unique views that have never been seen by the general public.

My goal with this blog is to inspire a renewed sense of pride and history in the built environment of Champaign, Illinois. Over the past 150 years, our community has been recycled several time with some parcels currently occupied by their fourth generation of building. Our community quickly evolved from a wood framed train stop to the largest and strongest commercial center in East Central Illinois. This blog will attempt to tell that story one building (or lot) at a time. The best part about it, is that the comments collected from the readers will help to capture the living history of our community in one place for all to read and see.

EDITORS NOTE: I am not all knowing (surprise!) and will never pretend to be a complete expert on every building. I will tell the story as I know it and look to you, the readers, to correct me when I am wrong. This is a living blog that will change as the stories of others complete the tale.